Question 1

When i decided on my hypothesis i went to research 2 possible games that have caused massive controversy, Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt, i will be researching both series of games. Both of these games have been in the news concerning the amount ofviolence in these video games, more so Grand Theft Auto. I watched videos of the violence in these games, and also played these games for 30 mins, and have to agree that there is an excess of violence in both.
one theory i found interesting is mean world syndrome theory, this means that when people are exposed to violence in media, the believe there is much more violence in the world than there is. another thoery that i can use in my research is,

Videos of the violence in Manhunt and grand theft auto

the Grand Theft Auto Debate.

Grand theft auto has created controversy world wide for its content. the game contains very graphic content and was rated M for mature. Despite this rating children under the age of 18 still manage to play this game, this has sparked a world wide debate due to the fact that some children that have played the game obsessively have committed crimes of similar nature to the things that happen in the game.

Jack thompson an american attorney believes gta trains the young children to kill police men, mistreat woman, and brake other laws. he believes that the parents who buy there children this game are potentially buying them a law braking stimulator.
he has appeared in more law suits against gaming manufacturers than any other attourney, but never won a single case. Most og these law suits have been against take two interactive, who are the creators and publishers of the grand theft auto series, the bully games, and the manhunt games. Despite his attempts to "destroy take two-two" Jack Thompson was disbared for a decade from practicing law.

Many gaming experts beleive that violent games such as grand theft auto do cause teenagers to act violently. However the is a large amount of gaming experts that believe video game do NOT cause violence in teenagers, and say that the players of the games should be able to determine the difference between fanasy and reality, and if they can not, then the problem is alot deeper that video games, such as parenting, or why they have not been learnt how to determine the differnce.

research evaluation ; 1

method of research : secondary
type of source : book

title and author: Yvonne Jewkes
location of source : book




strengths: has to be fairly accurate to be published as it would not of been aloud to be published if it was totally inaccurate.

Weaknesses: only one persons view, so it can only be accurate to a certain extent

hypothesis

To show to what extent crime is represented through video games and how this affects the way people think about crime in real life, also to see how these games affect the minds of the younger generation who play the games. the games i will analyse are the grand theft auto series and the manhunt series

http://www.cw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/

http://www.northallertoncoll.org.uk/media/audience.htm

http://www.allisonmedia.net/downloads/Year_12/Audience_booklet.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle_model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivation_theory

Magic Bullet Theory

The magic bullet theory-- or hypodermic needle theory--was much more common among media researchers in the early 20th century than it is now. This theory posits that media messages impact people in direct, measurable, and immediate ways-- as if a bullet hit the body, or as if the body was injected with a substance from a needle. Most researchers argue that these kinds of effects are rare, or involve events of little consequence. For example, when someone watches a pizza commercial and then orders the pizza seen on the TV, this is more or less a magic bullet effect. However, it's much less likely that someone will see a school shooting on TV and then immediately attack a school.

Desensitization

This theory posits that because people are exposed to so much violence in the media, violence no longer makes a strong emotional impact upon them. Most people would agree that by watching lots of violent movies, a viewer no longer gets upset while watching violent movies. However, the debate surrounding this concept is whether people will also be desensitized to real life violence. If a person leaves the movie theater after seeing a violent film, and then sees a real dead body on the street, will this person still experience desensitization?

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory focuses more on how people's attitudes are impacted by the media, rather than just behaviors. attitudes and behaviors are intricately related, cultivation theorists focus on how people think more than what people do. Much of this research involves comparing the attitudes of heavy media users, moderate media users, and light media users.

One finding of this research is that when people are exposed to heavy media violence, they seem to have an attitudinal misconception called mean world syndrome. This means that they overestimate how much violence actually occurs in their communities and the rest of the world. People who are exposed to less media violence have a more realistic sense of the amount of violence in the real world